Growing Mussels - The Australian Blue Mussel

Australian mussel growers farm a species called Mytilus galloprovincialis which are often referred to as Blue or Black mussels and native to Australia. The approved common name for the species is Australian Blue Mussels – registered through The Australian Fish Names Committee and listed in the Australian Seafood Handbook.

Europe's common blue mussel Mytilus edulis is similar but the native Australian mussel has been found in ancient Aboriginal middens.

Blue mussel production is concentrated in Europe (France, The Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, UK), with a significant quantity grown in North America,   Most of the European production is locally traded and consumed.  New Zealand produces approx 90,000 tonnes of Greenshell mussels per year.

A mussel has two hinged shells, held together by a ligament or adductor muscle. The shells are opened and closed to feed and to protect it from predators.  Mussels have a 'foot' which is used to move around and attach the mussel to hard surfaces. This attachment is strengthened by byssal threads called the 'beard'.

Mussels are bivalves and feed by filtering algae and other nutrients from the sea water in which they live.

Blue mussels are either male (cream or white flesh) or female (orange flesh). After spawning, fertilisation occurs outside the mussel. In the wild, larvae can swim or drift for between 3-8 weeks before settling on a hard surface as a young mussel – called spat.